Azad Jammu and Kashmir government spokesperson Chaudhry Guftar Hussain said on Sunday that the elections in the region will be held on time and all preparations have been completed.
Speaking at a press conference in Muzaffarabad, he said there was no possibility of any change or delay to the election schedule. He said all administrative and security arrangements had been completed to ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.
The AJK spokesperson said a banned committee had created obstacles and blocked roads, affecting the supply of food, medicines and other essential goods.
Banned committee used women, children as human shields
He said the banned committee was using women and children as human shields and added that the government could not be blackmailed. He said the committee would be responsible for any untoward incident.
Guftar Hussain said that under the agreement of October 4, 2025, the government accepted 38 demands of the banned committee in the wider public interest. He said the committee later moved away from demands relating to fundamental rights and towards anti-state objectives, after which it was declared a banned organisation under the law.
He said the sit-in, which had continued for the past 36 days, had severely disrupted the supply of food, medicines and essential goods in Poonch Division. He added that highways and link roads had been blocked, bringing the movement of the public to a complete halt.
The AJK spokesperson and Kashmir Police said it was the government's constitutional and moral responsibility to reopen blocked roads for the public. He said every attempt to restore access had faced resistance and gunfire from the banned committee.
He said a team working to reopen a road in Shujaabad came under heavy gunfire from nearby areas and surrounding forests, leaving law enforcement personnel injured.
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